Google just gave Gmail a major AI upgrade, and it solves a big problem for me


Kerry Wan/ZDNET

The Google I/O keynote took place on Tuesday, and the company took the stage to unveil new features across all of its product offerings. Of course, this included AI upgrades to the Google Workspace suite of applications, which millions of users rely on every day to get their work done, including Google Docs, Meet, Slides, Gmail, and Vids.

Also: Google’s popular AI tool gets its own Android app – how to use NotebookLM on your phone

The features unveiled this year focused on practicality. They embed AI features into the Google apps you already use every day to speed up your daily workflow by performing tedious and time-consuming tasks, such as cleaning out your inbox.

Gmail: Gemini can clean your inbox

inbox-cleanup.png

Google

Everyone can relate to being bombarded with emails. Often, these messages are marketing or spam that make it difficult to get to what you really need to read. Now, the new Inbox Cleanup feature lets users simply ask Gemini to clean their inbox. For example, Google shares that you could say, “Delete all of my unread emails from The Groomed Paw from last year,” and Gemini would take care of it in seconds.

Also: Google One hits 150 million subscribers – looks like we’re willing to pay for AI after all

AI-generated email replies have become pretty standard since generative AI exploded in popularity. However, generated responses often lack context that would make them as valuable as possible.

Personalized Smart Replies in Gmail seek to tackle that issue by drafting emails that pull from the context of your past emails and Google Drive and match your tone. This should improve the relevancy and helpfulness of the AI-generated emails, make them truer to how you typically sound, and save you the time of digging for additional context.

personalized-smart-replies-in-gmail.png

Google

Lastly, Google is making it easier for you to book appointments with someone outside of your organization. Even though you don’t have visibility into their calendars, the Fast Appointment Scheduling feature integrated into Gmail will automatically suggest times for the customer or client to book, detect when you are trying to schedule a meeting, and share your booking page.

Also: 8 best AI features and tools revealed at Google I/O 2025

All of these Gmail features will be generally available next quarter.

Google Meet AI translation

Meet AI Translation

Google

Google is now leveraging AI to support speech translation in Google Meet. As someone is talking, the feature will translate the words into the listener’s preferred language in near real time. A unique aspect of the feature is that it also preserves the speaker’s voice, tone, and expression. In the demo shown, there was very low latency and high accuracy, which I could attest to as a native Spanish speaker.

Also: Run out of Gmail storage? How I got another 15GB for free and without losing any files

Google shares that the Speech Translation in Google Meet feature will begin rolling out to consumer AI subscribers in beta, first in English and Spanish, with Italian, German, and Portuguese following in the coming weeks. The feature will also be available for businesses in the future.

Google Vids is now generally available (with upgrades)

google-slides-into-engaging-videos-2.png

Google

Google Vids, the company’s take on a video generator, launched last year. Now, users can leverage Vids to turn Google Slides into engaging videos. Gemini takes the slide deck and then creates scripts, voiceovers, and other necessary elements of a video production. This feature will be generally available next quarter.

Also: Everything announced at Google I/O 2025: Gemini, Search, Android XR, and more

A new Transcript Trim feature in Vids allows Gemini to generate a transcript of your recording, identify filler words such as “ums” and “has” and remove them with one click. This feature will be available in Labs next quarter. Gemini can also help adjust sound through a single click via the Balance Sound feature, available next month.

transcript-trim.png

Google

Lastly, for times when you may not have the budget or time to film a spokesperson for a video, Google is launching AI avatars in Vids. This feature lets you select an avatar, feed it a script, and have it create a polished video for you. This feature is coming to Labs next month.

Perhaps the biggest Vids announcement is that Vids is available to consumer AI subscribers, where it was previously limited to enterprise plans.

Imagen 4

Google is making its most advanced AI text-to-image generator, Imagen 4, available to users across the Google Workspace apps, including Slides, Vids, Docs, and more. Some advantages include more accurate spelling and text rendering, and more detailed visuals. 

Also: The best AI image generators of 2025: Gemini, ChatGPT, Midjourney, and more

The upgrade is generally available starting today.

Google Docs

To provide writing assistance that is even more helpful, Google Docs will now have source-grounded writing help. This means that when a user links to any relevant decks, data, and reports in Google Docs, Gemini can pull from these sources when generating a suggestion. This allows you to minimize context switching while maximizing writing assistance. This feature will be available next quarter.

Get the morning’s top stories in your inbox each day with our Tech Today newsletter.





Source link

Related Articles

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Stay Connected

0FansLike
0FollowersFollow
0SubscribersSubscribe

Latest Articles